Friends,
In the Old Testament, the Prophet Isaiah foretells a time when:
The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. … They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
And in the New Testament, St Paul writes to the Galatians that after baptism:
There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
Both of these are beautiful, inspirational passages, about a world where strife and divisions are ended, and ancient enmities laid aside. But for all their beauty and promise, both of them are still, millennia later, also highly aspirational. We have the capacity to realize this promise – but not as we currently are, not without transformation.
This vision of brotherhood and sisterhood, of reconciliation with our fellow humans and with God, lies at the heart of our belief. And yet … our daily lives, our wants and needs, the structures of our society, and even our church, all work against that.
But the death of George Floyd (among so many others), and with it the growing recognition that on issues of race we continue to fall short not just of our national founding creed, but also our religious one, gives us an opportunity – in humility – to seek God’s transformational love.
I believe that the Sacred Ground Dialogue program that St John’s will offer over the next 12 months will provide us that opportunity. As Katrina Browne, who designed the program, writes:
This is a race dialogue series designed for these times. It is an attempt to be responsive to the profound challenges that currently exist in our society. It is focused on the challenges that swirl around issues of race and racism, as well as the difficult but respectful and transformative dialogue we need to have with each other about them. It invites participants to walk back through history in order to peel away the layers that brought us to today, and to do so in a personal way, reflecting on family histories and stories, as well as important narratives that shape the collective American story. It holds the vision of beloved community as a guiding star – where all people are honored and protected and nurtured as beloved children of God, where we weep at one another’s pain and seek one another’s flourishing.
I do hope that you will be able to join me and your fellow members of St John’s on this journey, as we seek to become all that we – as individuals, and as a church – can truly be: a haven, a beacon, and a foretaste of life on God’s holy mountain.
Every blessing,
Will
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